Toviscanga

Toviscanga was a former Tongva village now located at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in San Gabriel, California.[1] Alternative spellings for the village include Tobiscanga. The name of Tuvasak was the Payómkawichum name for the village.[2] The village was closely situated to the village of Sibagna.[2]

A painting of Mission San Gabriel from 1832, showing Tongva dwellings near the mission.

In 1771, the original site of Mission San Gabriel was constructed near the village. However, a flash flood destroyed this building, which caused the Spanish missionaries to relocate it to the village of Toviscanga in 1776.[3][4] This was similar to how Mission San Juan Capistrano was built less than sixty yards from the village of Acjacheme in 1776.[5]

The village location as being at Mission San Gabriel was referenced by Junipero Serra as the site of the mission, as reflected in a title he gave for his book of confirmations in 1778: "Este Mision del Santo Principe el Arcángel San Gabriel de los Temblores alias Toviscanga."[6]

Residents of the village spoke a specific dialect of the Tongva language, referred to in records as the San Gabriel dialect. In 1875, two older men reportedly spoke the dialect. In 1882, the dialect was written to be nearly extinct. A Franciscan missionary Jose Maria Zalvadeas reportedly gave a sermon and translated Christian prayers in the language to convert the villagers. In 1824, he reportedly had written grammatical rules for the language in a dictionary. However, in 1882, the whereabouts of this document were declared unknown.[1]

See also

References
  1. Peet, Stephen Denison (1881–82). Gatschet, Alb. S. (ed.). The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal. Jameson & Morse. p. 73.
  2. Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico. Volume IV, T to Z. Frederick Webb Hodge. Scituate, MA. 2003. p. 796. ISBN 978-1-58218-756-3. OCLC 961309517.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. University of California. 1907. p. 141.
  4. Hodge, Frederick Webb (1968). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Volume 2. Scholarly Press. p. 796.
  5. O'Neil, Stephen; Evans, Nancy H. (1980). "Notes on Historical Juaneno Villages and Geographical Features". UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 2 (2): 226–232.
  6. The Masterkey, Volume 31. Southwest Museum. 1957. p. 125.



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